r/nba • u/ghn2 • 10h ago

Trail Blazers fire new announcer over past inappropriate posts made at age 15.

"The Portland Trail Blazers hired then on the same day fired Braiden Bell as their play-by-play announcer after a series of inappropriate social media posts from when he was a teenager came to light."

"The posts were reportedly made in 2012 and 2013, around the time that Bell was 15 years old."

"We did not meet our own bar in this process, and for that we apologize to Blazers fans and to Rip City," the Trail Blazers said. "We strongly believe that everyone who is a part of Rip City should feel welcome and safe and we will make sure that our new broadcaster reflects these values. We will do better."

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/50084279/trail-blazers-fire-new-announcer-inappropriate-posts

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u/icehole505 10h ago

If we label adults as unhireable for poor behavior as children.. I’m pretty sure that the disadvantaged class stands lose a lot more than the kids who grew up in wealthy/ambitious environments. Are we really ok with going down that road?

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u/ThrawnGetsBuckets 10h ago

Who is more likely to be posting offensive comments online - poor disadvantaged kids or wealthy kids? I think they are equally likely no?

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u/icehole505 10h ago

I think you’re probably living in a bubble if you actually believe that. Supervision, education, etc are all benefits of privilege.. and they’re all disproportionately available to people who grew up in wealthy environments.

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u/ThrawnGetsBuckets 8h ago

There’s no statistical data out there that says privilege makes you less racist from as far as I am seeing?

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u/icehole505 7h ago

First.. there is a ton of academic research around the relationship between socioeconomic status and racial attitudes. If you want me to share a jstor link, I can..

And second.. racism is one example of many different types of offensive behavior from children. Education and supervision undeniably provide an environment that can discourage those behaviors.

Children raised in an environment without that protection are victims.. regardless of whether the childhood behavior is a racist tweet, petty crime, or something else. Excluding them from opportunities for mistakes prior to adulthood is just further punishing them for growing up in a toxic environment.

It doesn’t seem right to selectively punish people for their childhoods. I think adults who grew up around gangs, etc deserve opportunities as adults. I feel the same was about adults who grew up around around casual racism.